Sporting CP Update: 2/16

After last week’s disappointing tie to Benfica, Sporting CP traveled to the Belem region of Lisbon for the “other” Lisbon derby against Belenenses on Sunday.

The game was scoreless until the 70th minute, where SCP keeper Rui Patricio fell victim to one of this maddening blunders. As any Portuguese Liga fan can attest to, Rui Patricio can single-handedly win a match one week, and then just as easily undermine his club’s chances the following week. Unfortunately for Sporting supporters, the latter applied to the Portuguese keeper on Sunday.

In what should’ve been a fairly routine clearance, Patricio attempted to send a long ball from Belenenses back up the field. But instead, he drilled it right into the back of his defender Paulo Oliveira, who was marking Rui Oliveira nearby. The Belenenses forward pounced on the botched clearance and quickly scored to put his squad on top in the latter stages.

To make matters worse, Sporting right back Cedric Soares was sent off after a second yellow. SCP were fortunate to escape with the tie. Despite the fact that the stats weighed in their favor, it took a last-gasp stoppage time goal from young winger/forward Carlos Mane to salvage a 1-1 draw.

Sporting is now 12-1-8 (44 points), and still in the hunt for a Champions League berth. But with first-place Benfica and second-place Porto both winning, any hopes of winning the table are quickly dimming. Also, Braga, currently in 4th, inched closer to Sporting by winning on Sunday, and are now within four points of third place.

Their next match will be Europa League action against Wolfsburg in Germany. Then they will play Gil Vicente on Sunday at home. Gil Vicente currently sits 15th, 2 points ahead of the relegation zone.

The B team had a terrible time in their match against Aves this week, losing 4-0 away. Only silver lining in this one is more minutes for the young guns like Ryan Gauld, Diego Rubio, Daniel Podence.